PARK-AS-LAB

A survey of benthic macroinvertebrate species diversity and abundance in the Little Hell Gate Salt Marsh. This study aims to characterize the benthic macroinvertebrate community and link the presence of certain indicator species to salt marsh ecosystem benefits.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the ways in which decreased water quality impact NYC’s urban fish communities, and which fish species are most sensitive to changes in water quality.

Salt marshes may help reduce nitrogen and phosphorus in ecosystems but it is unclear if restored marshes can provide this function. RIPA and partners at Baruch College measured dissolved gas and nutrient fluxes from salt marshes at Randall’s Island and compared these to adjacent unrestored habitat.

RIPA staff, volunteers, and students monitor an oyster cage installed by Billion Oyster Project to assess eastern oyster growth and survival and observe other marine organisms using oyster shells and oyster cage as habitat.

Randall’s Island Park Alliance staff participate in the nation’s longest-running community science bird project: Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count. This information allows researchers and agencies to understand the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America.

Randall’s Island Park Alliance staff, volunteers, and members of the public participate in weekly water quality testing to detect bacteria from the genus Enterococcus, which are associated with fecal coliform presence.

Datasets containing the water quality data completed across all of Park-As-Lab monitoring projects.

Randall’s Island Park Alliance staff, volunteers, and members of the public participate in monthly fish and crustacean monitoring at two locations on Randall’s Island.

Randall’s Island Park staff and partners in the East River Ichthyological Alliance worked with the public to catch, measure, and release fish during clinics. Data collected from this survey will help build a database of information about fish in the East River.

Bee populations have been steadily declining, raising serious concerns for the future of their species and associated plants. This project aimed to survey Hymenopteran species and other pollinators to help understand how land managers can promote a healthier pollinator community.

Randall’s Island Park Alliance staff and volunteers participate in bimonthly waterbird monitoring at ten locations on Randall’s Island with a focus on herons and other wading birds.

Every month from May-October, RIPA staff and volunteers visit 3 sites on Randall’s Island to conduct insect pollinator counts.

Volunteers on Randall’s Island assist staff in collecting, identifying, and counting types of ocean litter.

The Natural Areas Department participates in multiple projects that pertain to monarchs including tagging to researchers understand migration patterns and sampling monarch abdominal scales to understand the spread of a monarch parasite.

Randall’s Island Park staff and interns conducted a non-native invasive species inventory for three of the natural areas on the island. The inventory will help the staff determine the success of invasive species management activities.

The goal of this project was to determine types of substrates on Randall’s Island, specifically the area around the Little Hell Gate Bridge, that provide habitat for oysters.

The recently restored Living Shoreline(LS) meadow of Randall’s Island hosted a EPA funded field study looking at the potential for phytoremediation in urban park lands. Plant and soil were sampled every week from May to September in 2021.

The purpose of our study is to assess the ability of plants and soil biota to remediate urban shoreline soils. We are designing a two-year field monitoring study on a 2-acre shoreline site on Randall’s Island.

Effects of urbanization on the vertebrate scavenger community, their feeding behaviors, and ecosystem services scavengers provide is poorly understood. The authors studied vertebrate scavenger community and carcass removal rates along an urbanization gradient in New York State.

RIPA staff and interns conduct vegetation surveys (annual or every 2 years) in two restored salt marshes. The objectives of wetland vegetation monitoring on the island are to evaluate whether restoration efforts are providing habitat for macroinvertebrates and to detect shifts in plant community composition associated with improved salt marsh ecosystem function.